How the Boy Became the Monster
by Hawkeyeisbae
Summary: The Avengers know very little about Clint Barton's past. Not even Natasha knows what lead him down the path to SHIELD. Until one day a letter shows up, then suddenly she knows everything most of which she wishes she didn't. Then somehow Tony manages to find the one place on earth Clint felt happy as a child until things went wrong with his brother. Tony then forces him to return.
1. Chapter 1

"Hey, Birdbrain. You've got mail." Tony says this as he tosses the letter into Clint's lap.

"From the fan mail pile?" Barton asks slightly confused, he has a home where all his personal mail goes too. And while Stark Tower is the default location for all fan mail to go for any of the Avengers, Clint has never been sent any before.

"Yup." Tony says as he passes out the rest of the mail to the remaining occupants of the room.

Clint tears open the letter, theres no return address on it. He pulls out a thick piece of paper, and unfolds it. He's read barely a sentence when a grunt escapes his lips. The other Avengers all look to him curious but he doesn't speak, instead he keeps reading. When he's done, he leaves the room but forgets to grab the letter.

"Whose it from?" Tony asks when Natasha picks up the letter.

"Someone named Barney." Natasha says not able to read anymore then the signature before Barton reenters the room.

"Whose Barney?" Steve asks Clint. As Clint snatches the letter back out of Natasha's hands.

"Someone."

"He's more then someone." Tony says looking over the top of his sunglasses. "Or else you wouldn't have reacted like that before. You got a secret boyfriend you're not telling us about?"

Clint tries to laugh but fails. "If I had a boyfriend, he'd be sending me letters at my personal residence." Clint seems to think about his words as he's saying them because he adds. "Which I don't. Barney's someone from my past that I'd rather not see again."

"Says here he's hoping you'll meet him at IHOP in a few days." Bruce says snatching the letter out of Clint's hands.

"That'd be a suicide mission." Clint says, plopping himself onto the sofa.

"So he's an old enemy?" Natasha asks her hands already tensing for her weapons.

"Not exactly." Clint says pulling at his hair, an action he only does when he's stressed. "But I wouldn't call us close, the last time I saw him he tried to kill me. Then when that didn't work he put a bounty on my head."

"He's the reason SHIELD found you." Natasha says remembering Clint's file.

"Sort of, he's the reason I was sent down the path I was on when I came to SHIELD's attention."

"So how did you know him? If you weren't a master assassin when he knew you, then I can't see why he would try to kill you." Tony says a smirk on his face. "You're actually quite likable."

"Barney is my older brother." Clint says, giving a final tug at his hair. The room goes silent as the Avengers all digest perhaps the most information they've ever gotten about Barton's personal life, since learning he owns a farm and has a family with children. Clint feels their eyes follow him as he leaves the room.

 _"Hey Clint." Clint slowed down so Barney could catch up to him. "Where you heading off too?"_

 _"James invited me to his wagon for a beer. I thought I'd take him up on it."_

 _"Clint you're nine."_

 _"And you're eighteen, what's your point?"_

 _"My point is… forget it. Doesn't matter."_

 _"You need something."_

 _"No, uh, Jacques just wanted me to make sure you knew that Madame Hoovier wants to practice around eight tonight, so don't get too drunk alright." Barney puts Clint into a headlock and scrubs his hair as they continue walking._

 _"It's just one beer. You know they won't give me anymore then that." It was true, while perhaps not the best roll models, their fellow carnival troop members did have boundaries. And one of those was making sure, Clint, their youngest member was well cared for._

 _"I know, but still. You're nine, Clint."_

 _"And you started drinking and smoking when you were eight. You can't lecture me, Barney."_

 _"Alright, Alright. I've got to go find Jacques, he wants me to try a new sword tonight."_

 _"I still can't believe you swallow those things." Clint says shivering slightly._

 _"And I can't believe you fire a bow with deadly accuracy. The carnival is a wonderful place Clint."_

 _"I've got to go." Clint's finally fought off his brother, he could have done so before but he didn't want to hurt Barney._

 _"Make sure you make practice."_

 _"I will." Clint calls back, rolling his eyes as he goes inside James' wagon._

"You want to talk about it?" Natasha asks swinging up into Clint's hiding spot: the outside of Avengers Tower in the large A.

"There's not much to talk about."

"It sounds like there is, you're upset."

"Talking about it isn't going to help that."

"Have you tried."

"No…"

"Then how do you know."

Clint has no argument, after a minute he sighs. "Where do you want me to start."

"Wherever you feel you have too."

Clint sighed he supposed it was about time Natasha learned something about his life, he knew plenty of things she wished he didn't about her life. "You know this already, but I was an orphan early in life. Earlier then anyone else knows. Mom and Dad died in a car crash when I was three, leaving me alone in the world. Well almost alone. I had Barney, my older brother, who was eleven at the time. We were put into foster care, and Barney made sure we stayed together, which I guess was a good thing cause foster care sucked. The last family we stayed with was the worst, they had a huge home. With large rafters. But they weren't nice people. Whenever we did something wrong, which could sometimes be classified as breathing, they locked us in dog kennels. I was only locked in once, but it was for weeks. They kept me in a locked room too, with no food and little water. When they finally let me out, Barney started planning our escape, but until we could, he stashed me away in the rafters. They tried to knock me down once, started throwing some knives and things at me after they'd locked Barney up. They hit me with something heavy and I fell like a rock. When I woke up a few days later, in a bed for a rare change, Barney and I made our move and left.

"Doesn't sound like a guy who'd try to kill you."

"He wasn't then. That came much later. Anyway, we escaped the foster system around my fifth birthday. We didn't have much money, and what we did have we'd stolen from our foster parents. But still we were happier then we'd been perhaps in our whole lives. To celebrate my birthday, Barney used a small amount of the money we had to buy me a cake. We ate it for weeks. Eventually we ran out of money, Barney decided that meant it was time to move to a bigger city. So we rode the rails to New York City. Barney was young, but he managed to weasel his way into a gang of older boys. They taught us how to fight, how to pick-pocket, swindle and cheat. As you can probably guess, Barney and I were naturals. We lived with them for a year or so, while they taught me everything they knew, I wasn't allowed out much. I was still only six at the time. It was all good until one day it wasn't, the guy in charge was murdered one day by a rival gang. The police began sniffing around, the other members suggested that Barney and I bail. Barney had warrants out for his arrest, and I was still young enough to be put back into the foster system. We hopped the rails again, this time we rode around for awhile. Eventually we ended up in a small town where a carnival happened to be visiting. We were broke again, the gang, while they had taken good care of Barney and I, hadn't cut Barney into any of the profits they made. Barney was fourteen, so he approached the Carnival master and asked for a temporary job."

 _"Boy, come in here." A large but gentle looking man motioned for Clint to enter the trailer his brother had disappeared into a while before._

 _"This the brother you were talking about?" Another man asks. He's wearing a long red coat and top hat. Clint's never seen a circus before but he's seen posters, the man looks like a ring master._

 _"Yeah, that's him." Barney says a protective tone in his voice as he puffs out his chest to appear larger then he is._

 _"So you're both orphans."_

 _"Yup."_

 _"You're both kind of young aren't you to be looking after yourselves."_

 _"If you call the police, we'll be gone before they get here." Barney had said already crossing the room to be with Clint, his hand on his brother's shoulder._

 _"Who said anything about police." The carnival director had said giving Barney a toothy grin. " I was merely making an observation. Your brother here can't be more then five."_

 _"I'm six." Clint had said puffing out his chest proudly._

 _"Of course you are young man." The ring master had said flashing another smile. "You've got a yourself a job, Barney. At least on a trial basis, if you prove yourself useful over the next few days, you and your brother can come with us."_

 _"Thank You, Sir." Barney had said breathing a sigh of relief._

 _"Don't thank me yet, you might hate the job. Harold, show Barney here to the elephant stables, I'm sure they need some mucking."_

 _"Come on Clint." Barney had said grabbing his brother's hand._

 _"Leave Clint here." The director had said. "I'll make sure some food gets into his system then send him on his way." Barney had looked hesitant to leave Clint behind but he wasn't about to argue with the man who had just offered him a job._

 _"Alright, I'll see you in a few hours Clint." Clint had nodded, then watched as his brother walked away, only turning back to the other man once his bother was out of his unusually sharp vision._

 _"Want to see a card trick." Clint had asked flashing the man a smile, his hands already shuffling a deck of cards. The man had laughed and watched delighted as Clint did a slight of hand game._

 _"You'll fit in here nicely." The man had said joyfully once Clint was done. "Now come, I'll get you a corn dog."_

"After the first few days of us being there, Ring Master Carson decided to let Barney and I stay with the carnival. We fit in well, by the second day we were there, Carson had me running a slight of hand game, swindling adults out of their hard earned money in a matter of seconds. By our third day Barney had befriended the sword swallower and was beginning to learn the art. The people at the carnival were our family."

 _"Youngest Barton." Carson yelled from the middle of the ring during the middle of practice one day. Currently Clint was hanging upside down in the rafters of the tent. Carson had only just spotted him. Clint had thought it was a great spot to watch the rehearsal, and he was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to be doing anything so he was slightly confused why Carson was paying him any attention. "How on earth did you get up there?" The man barked. Clint only shrugged. He then worked his way down and in front of Carson. "How old are you again, boy?"_

 _"He's roughly six." Barney answered when Clint struggled for an answer. Barney was currently working with Jacques on sword swallowing. He'd only been practicing the art for a month, yet he seemed to have a knack for it, not that that had gained him a spot in the carnival yet._

 _"How would you like to learn to hang from a trapeze, Clint?" Carson asked, already impressed by Clint's skills after watching him climb down from the tent supports._

 _"Sounds like fun." Clint answered._

 _"Alright then. Someone get me Henrietta." Carson said calling for his own daughter, and the carnival's best trapeze artist. "Someone else hang the net, I don't want the kid dying the first time we get him up in the air."_

 _As Clint followed around the older circus artists as they began to prep the area to teach him, he felt a heavy hand land on his shoulder._

 _"Are you sure you want to do this?" Barney had asked Clint a concerned look in his eyes as he looked up at the trapeze._

 _"It sounds like fun, besides I'll have to learn how to do something eventually or Carson will keep you and throw me out on the street. I can't exactly do all the heavy work you guys do. I won't be six forever."_

 _"You're already the best slight of hand artist he has." Barney argued._

 _"Everyone has been teaching me things for months, and I haven't been all that good at them. Eventually they'll stop teaching me, and if I don't learn to do something well enough to be a feature here, I'll be replaced."_

 _"Clint, I just don't think…"_

 _"I'll be fine." Clint had offered up his most genuine smile. "Besides they're not going to start me out with anything too dangerous." He motioned to the large net that was being set up roughly fifteen feet up from the ground. "Carson is already proving that, he had them set up the net. He never allows that."_

 _"Alright, just be careful."_

 _"I will."_

"I learned the art of trapeze first. I was six. I was a natural, within two days of first being up in the sky, I gained a small role in the trapeze act. Just a simple fling and flip to be caught a few seconds later, but it was better then most could do. Our carnival only had three artists at the time, Carson was desperate for another, so he was glad to see that I didn't die during my first show. As I got better, I got to do more and more in each show, until about a month into starting trapeze, I had my own feature separate act from the other artists."

 _"Hey Clint, you want to try?" Barney was asking to be nice, but Clint wanted to try more then anything else in the world. Some of the younger but still older then Clint, members of the troupe were shooting bows, they did it from time to time when the carnival wasn't open for the day yet and they were bored. Barney had been invited to participate shortly after they'd joined, but Clint had previously only been allowed to watch. It had been James' idea to see if he could pull back a bow._

 _"Alright." James had said, once Clint had a bow in his hands. Before James could say anymore, Clint had put an arrow on the string, drawn back, aimed and released. The arrow had flown dead straight into the middle of the target. The older boys had all stared at him in disbelief. The bow was over half as big as Clint, yet he'd just shot it better then any of them could._

 _"How did you know what to do?" Jacques had asked him still dumbfounded._

 _"I've been watching you guys for months." Clint had said shrugging._

 _"Do it again." Barney had ordered, demanding Clint prove himself. A look of envy in his eyes as he stared at his younger brother. So Clint did, his arrow splintering the shaft of the first._

 _"Someone go get Carson. He's gonna want to know about this." James had said, Barney had peeled off running while the other boys stared at Clint still dumbfounded._

"A few months later, my archery skills were worked into my act as well. I became the Great and Talented Hawkeye." Clint snorts. "I was loved by all. I was so caught up in my fifteen minutes of fame, I didn't realize that wherever our carnival went, crime followed. It was years later that I finally found out. It was my tenth birthday, and like I usual when I wasn't required elsewhere, I was perched in the tent rafters waiting for my birthday party later that night."

 _"Barney, you've got too. It's the perfect window of opportunity." Jacques had followed Barney into the big tent. Both too caught up in their conversation to scan the tent like they normally would have for Clint's listening ears._

 _"Not today, Jacques It's Clint's special day. He'll look for me if I go missing."_

 _"And we'll keep him occupied just like we always do. James is good at that. "_

 _"James gives him beer then has his sister teach him acts on the trapeze."_

 _"Exactly, he keeps him busy." Barney had shaken his head at this remark._

 _"What if I don't get back in time for his party, theres nothing you could have him doing to distract him from me not being there."_

 _"We'll think of something. You've got to go today or us being here this week will be a complete waste. Besides James can't go, he sprained his ankle remember. He can't run."_

 _"That's not true, the carnivals made plenty this week."_

 _"Don't you want a bonus to buy Clint a nice gift. If you don't do this, you'll barely get the weeks pay."_

 _"Yes but…" "Then it's settled then." Jacques says with a tone of finality._

 _"You on board again Barney?" Carson asked, stepping into the tent. "Jacques can be very persuasive." Barney says making his position final._

 _"Alright then, the others are waiting in the truck. I'll send James to find Clint and keep him distracted. Perhaps Madam Hoovier will teach him a new trapeze trick."_

 _"Come on Jacques" Barney had said roughly shouldering a bag that Carson had handed him. "Let's get this over with."_

"Later that day, I found Barney as he was coming back. He and the others were joking around. I heard them talking about robbing a bank. I saw as the bags they were carrying. Jacques accidentally dropped his and a bunch of money had fallen out. They spotted me then, but I began running. Barney tried to follow me, but I was always faster then him. I hid in the elephant tents until everyone else had gone to bed."

 _"There you are Clint." Clint startled awake at his brother's voice. He'd been sleeping on his trapeze platform, few performers dared go up this high. Even the other artists didn't particularly like Clint's custom platform. Barney wasn't up high though, he was on the ground looking up. "Get down here." Clint stretched but refused to move. "Clint I want to talk to you."_

 _"You can talk from down there." Clint had called._

 _"Clint, I know you saw us yesterday… and I want you to know. It wasn't what you thought."_

 _"It looked like you'd just robbed a bank."_

 _"Everyone here is a criminal, Clint. They may shield you from it, but at one point or another they've all done bad things."_

 _"Yeah, but they're not you."_

 _"Clint, you've got to promise not to tell."_

 _"How can I not?"_

 _"If you tell, you won't be allowed to live here anymore."_

 _"Alright, Barney. I won't tell."_

"A cop came sniffing around the main tent a few days later. Everyone else had went out celebrating something, I was alone practicing my acts. He started asking questions, I absently answered them. I didn't give him any information but Jacques and Barney walked in on me talking to him. They were angry but they had to wait for him to leave. Next thing I knew, Barney was beating on me, calling me horrible things. Jacques was the one who delivered the final blow, if you will. I dropped like a rock and smashed my head off one of the tent spikes. I woke up days later in Carson's wagon. We'd changed cities. When I woke up, I couldn't hear. I'd apparently been bleeding out of my ears when Barney and Jacques had finally told someone what they did to me. The carnies had taken car of me, but no one had taken me to receive any medical attention. It got hard, being at the carnival. It didn't help that Barney and Jacques started beating on me daily. I started avoiding Barney, it wasn't hard, he was just a stage hand but that didn't help all the much. Jacques was always around. I stopped speaking to anyone, I couldn't hold a conversation with them since I couldn't understand what they were saying back. I was of almost no help anywhere but in the main performance tent, my talents were the only thing that allowed me to stay with the carnival. Then one day things got real bad."

 _"I can't believe that they were waiting for us." Barney had come running into the boy's shared trailer. Jacques, James and Henrietta close behind him. Clint was in clear view in his bunk, but they all ignored him. He was sleeping, due to his lack of hearing, their noise hadn't roused him._

 _"We were sloppy." James roared, pounding his fist into the wall. This had startled Clint awake._

 _"Whats going on?" Clint had asked glancing at his watch he saw it was well past midnight. He slowly rubbed the sleep out of his eyes._

 _"Nothing." Barney barked a vicious look on his face. "Go back to bed, Clint."_

 _"Huh?" Clint could make out that Barney had spoken but he had not idea what he'd said. It was too dark to read his lips even for his eyes._

 _"He said go back to bed." Jacques growled, yanking Clint's curtain to his bunk shut. Clint opened it back up again._

 _"What?"_

 _"Go back to bed, Clint." James said more kindly, loud enough so Clint could make out the words._

 _"But I'm up now. What are you guys up too?" Clint asked perking up. If it had just been Barney and Jacques, he would have gone right back to bed, but Henrietta and James were nice to him._

 _"Nothing you should concern yourself with." Henrietta said her accent drawling lazily. "Go to bed, Clint. We're leaving at first light. They're packing the tents now, you'll want to be rested up when we leave."_

 _"I've been sleeping all day. I feel better." That was true, Clint had been sick in the morning. Henrietta's mother Mrs. Carson had looked him over and ordered him a day of bed rest. Woken up, he felt much better._

 _"Listen you little shit." Barney had lost his patience. He grabs Clint out of his bed and slams him into the opposite wall. "We're busy right now and don't need you poking around asking questions."_

 _"Barney let him go." James had stepped forward to interfere._

 _"Back out of this James." Jacques said stepping between James and Barney. "This is a brotherly thing. Clint just needs to be reminded of where he stands."_

 _"The last time you two reminded him of where he stands, the kid lost his hearing." James insisted trying to push forward._

 _"Well maybe this time he needs to loose his sight." Jacques suggested passing Barney a knife. "Let's see if he's still a good archer when he can't see."_

 _Clint whimpered scared as Barney brought the knife closer and closer to his face. James and Henrietta tried to interfere but Jacques held them off. It was only when a pounding on the door sounded that Barney backed off, the knife just barely nicking Clint's cheek._

 _"Open up. Police." The knock sounded again when no one answered, everyone in the wagon frozen._

 _"Clint." Jacques was the first to snap back to life when the pounding and warning happened again. "Go to the door. Talk to the nice man. The rest of us are going to sneak out the back. Do you understand." Clint nodded still weary of the knife in his brother's hand. Barney let him go and allowed him to walk to the weak door. While the four older persons backed into the shadows toward the back door._

 _"Hello." Clint said, putting on the act of just waking up. He rubs his eyes and blinks at the bright light the cop shines in his eyes._

 _"Oh. Stand down." The cop closest to Clint called to the other men behind him, his own gun going into his holster. "It's just a kid."_

 _"Can I help you?" Clint asked innocently._

 _"You work here, kid?" The cop asked his brow furrowing. In the light of the cop's torch Clint is able to read his lips to figure out what he said._

 _"Yeah, I'm one of the acts."_

 _"They treat you right?" The cop asks, seeing the cut on Clint's cheek._

 _"Fine, bow slipped." He says pantomiming pulling back his bow. The cop nods._

 _"Does anyone else live in this trailer with you?" The cop asks casually, the wagon is small, he's easily able to look inside and see the multiple bunks set up._

 _"Yeah…" Clint said wearily._

 _"Where are they now?" The cop asked motioning to the empty beds._

 _"Most likely taking down the tents." Clint said remembering Henrietta's words._

 _"Looked like they were all taken down when we walked by, didn't it Johnny." The cop said calling to his buddy behind him._

 _"Yeah it did."_

 _"Shouldn't they be back by now?" The cop asked._

 _"I don't know, they're probably celebrating."_

 _"Celebrating what?"_

 _"I don't know, that's just what they tell me they do."_

 _"Alright kid, we'll let you get back to bed." The cop said giving up. Clint nodded and slowly closed the door. He watched out the window until the cops were in their cars and driving away then when to the back door._

 _"They're gone." He called out the door, glancing around he noticed the four teenagers hiding against the walls._

 _He thought Barney said something to him, but he couldn't hear it, so he just went back to bed._

"The next day, I was arrested. The cops came back before we could leave and searched our wagon. Barney had hid the stash of cash they'd stolen in my personal belongings. The cops believed I wasn't the one who'd stolen it but they had to arrest me anyway. Barney watched as they put me in the cruiser with a smile on his face. When we got to the station, Carson pulled in behind us. He tried to get the police to release me but they needed to hold me. Carson gave me enough money to cover any bail they might set for me and a train ticket and told me where to meet the carnival. The cops ended up releasing me without pressing charges, I bought a train ticket and followed the circus, arriving a few days after they'd already set up. But I decided not to stay, I'd taken enough abuse from them. I kept Carson's bail money, he'd assume I'd used it all to get out. I stayed for about a day, did one last show, then in the middle of the night packed up all my things and took the first train I could out of there. I thought it was the last I'd ever see of them, but a few month's later, Carson's traveling carnival happened to visit the same town I was living in. Barney found me in the streets, Carson had blamed him for me leaving and had taken it out pretty hard on him. I had been Carson's star, Barney was just a stage hand. So Barney was pretty pissed off, he beat me until I couldn't stand. He thought I was dead when he left me bleeding in the streets. I wished I was. I only survived when a friend I'd made in the gang I'd joined came out of the bar I'd been guarding for them to rob came out and found me. They stitched me back up and sent someone to talk to Barney. A few weeks later, we found out about the hit on my back when I was shot through the shoulder. I decided to relocate. It took me about six months to use up all my money, that's when I started hit man work. It paid good, and I had the skills…" Clint trailed off, the memories overflowing his mind. Natasha realizing that Clint needs his space, goes back inside. The others bug her for details, but she's not about to tell.

"You guys want to go to a carnival?" Tony comes into the living room where the Avengers are assembled casually arguing over what to watch on TV. Thor's vote is for Mean Girls, Natasha's is Fast and Furious 7, the other Avengers had respectively taken sides on which movie they wanted to watch more.

Natasha, momentarily forgets her position against Mean Girls when she sees Clint's fists tighten into balls, her mind flashes back to the day before where he shared his story.

"I don't think thats a…." Natasha starts to say only to have Clint interrupt her.

"That's a great idea." He says shooting Natasha a glare, he gets to his feet to snatch the poster from Tony's hands. "Let me guess, it's coming to Buffalo?" One glance at the flier confirms his suspicions. "When are we going?" He asks Tony.

"I was thinking tomorrow." Tony says taken aback by Clint's enthusiasm.

"Good, it's settled then." Clint walked out of the room presumably to get a beer. Leaving the Avengers all staring after him in shock.

"Did Clint just get excited about something besides shooting things?" Bruce asked slightly confused.

"He's deeper then you guys give him credit for." Natasha says slightly sharply as she stares after Clint slightly concerned. "He's just not very open." She adds.

In the kitchen, as Clint opened his favorite kind of beer. He looked at the poster. That was why Barney was around. Carson's Traveling Circus had come back into town, and it looked like he'd be paying them a visit.

"You're bringing your bow?" Steve asks Barton confused by the presence of the weapon. "Did Fury assign you a private mission we should know about?"

"Not at all." Clint says a slight smile playing on his lips. "This is just for some good old fashion fun."

"Please tell me you aren't planning on shooting at civilians, Barton." Steve asked suddenly wary of continuing on their day adventure.

"Nah, Cap. I've had enough of doing that. Those days are in the past. But it so happens so is this carnival." Barton pulled out the old flier he'd kept hidden in his possessions for years. Going back had made him nostalgic, and he'd dug it out this morning.

"You were a carnival brat?" Stark turns around completely in his seat to stare at Clint in the back of the car.

"Yeah, and I'd appreciate it if you focused on driving Stark."

"Sorry." Tony said putting to car back into his own lane. "I just can't believe that Mr. Big Bad Assassin was once a carnival act."

"Correction," Clint says pointing at his large stage name and photo taking up the middle of the poster. "I was the carnival's star."

"I never thought I'd see the day where Clint Barton returned to the carnival." The Avengers had just arrived at the carnival and paid their fare in. They'd been there not a minute when one of Clint's old acquaintances had spotted them. Clint however, had turned his hearing aids down due to the large amounts of noise and he didn't hear the man until a hand had landed on his shoulder. Fighting off his instinct to flip whoever it was, Clint slowly turns to face the person. His eyes lighting up with recognition when he registers who the man is. Fifteen years had changed James, but not by much.

"James." Clint says delighted pulling him into a half hug.

"The carnival's missed you." James says when the two men pull back to look at one another. "But it looks as you haven't missed the carnival." James says acknowledging the Avengers.

"Not recently, no." Clint admits, but looking around all the good memories come flooding back.

"Dad was some surprised when he saw his former star on the television still shooting a bow, fighting off aliens."

"Tell him I was surprised to be doing so as well." Clint says chuckling slightly. "Is everyone still around?" He asks scanning the vendors for familiar faces.

"For the most part, Jacques was arrested about five years back, but everyone else that worked in the tent are still around."

Clint clears his throat at the mention of Jacques "Did Barney take over his act."

"Uh, yeah…" No one really knew why Clint left the carnival, not fully, but they all had suspected that Jacques and Barney has something to do with it. Carson had been so sure of it, he'd demoted Barney to an elephant shit scooper. "He's pretty good, but it doesn't draw a crowd like you did. No one could do that."

"I know." Clint realizing that his friends look impatient and slightly put out, realizes he's being rude. "Sorry guys, I should introduce you all." Clint points to each of his friends respectively. "Bruce, Tony, Thor, Steve and Natasha, this is James Carson. He was one of my closer friends when I traveled with the carnival."

"Nice to meet you all." James says politely waving. "Do you all mind if I steal Clint from you for awhile? Everyone will want to catch up with him, if he's willing to do so but I don't want to keep you all from enjoying yourselves."

Clint nods to his friends, indicating that they can say yes.

"Yeah, we'll meet up with you later Clint." Steve says, signaling to the other Avengers that no matter how curious they are, Clint deserved some space.

"Meet me after the next show." Clint says looking to James for a time.

"It's at five." James says. "We'll comp your tickets." He adds as an afterthought.

"I'll see you later." Clint says to his friends but mostly to a reluctant Natasha. Clint watches as they walk away, smiling when Banner throws his arm around Natasha.

"Looks like they're good people." James says acknowledging Clint's friends as they disappear into the crowds. "Yeah they are." Clint says following James as he heads for the parked wagons and trailers just outside of the public area. They walk through a small gate in the fence into a sort of courtyard the carnies various trailers have made up.

"Hey everyone." James yells at the top of his lungs. "Come see the kind of riffraff I dug up." Clint slightly chuckles at James' energy. He watches as various sleepy carnies emerge from their sleeping quarters only to stop in their tracks when they see Clint.

"If it isn't Clint Goddamn Barton." Carson is the first to move toward Clint, pulling him into a bone crushing hug. Clint can't help but smile.

"Hey Carson, I can't breath." Clint chokes out, causing the much bigger man to laugh and but Clint down.

"Still a pip-squeak I see." Carson says examining Clint. Clint laughs.

"I guess so."

"Clint." Clint sees a very attractive woman run up and hug him. He's slightly surprised as he doesn't recognize her.

"Who are you, again?" Clint asks feeling bad he has to ask.

"I guess what your brother says is true, perhaps I have changed in looks. I'm Henrietta." Clint can feel his eyes bug slightly out of his head.

"Henrietta." He says hugging her again. "You look nice."

"Stop it." She says playfully hitting him.

"What brings you back, Barton?" Carson asks his eyes kind and gentle.

"Some friends wanted to come to the carnival, and I decided to tag along." Clint says as if his resurfacing is no big deal.

"I thought it might have been the draw of preforming." Carson says slightly disappointed. "I remember the way your eyes used to light up right before you went on… that always made it hard for me to believe you had really left."

"Haha…" Clint says shuffling slightly uncomfortable. "I never told you, Carson, but I didn't use that money you gave me for bail. I lived off it once I left the carnival… I feel like I should pay you back."

"Nonsense." Carson says shaking off Clint's concern. "Think of it as a pay bonus, we never payed you enough while you stayed here."

"Well thank you." Clint says, his conscious feeling slightly better.

"Now, I'll leave you to catch up with people you actually want to catch up with." Carson winks and walks back to his trailer. Clint can't help but chuckle.

"I'm surprised Barney hasn't come out yet." James says looking through the crowd of various performers who are all trying to speak to Clint, who just nods politely. Most of the carnival never knew that Clint went deaf during his time there, and even few knew why.

"I'm okay with that." Clint says slightly darkly. "Henrietta, want to test my trapeze skills? I might be a little rusty but I'm almost certain I can still outdo you."

"Keep thinking that, little Barton." Henrietta says shooting Clint a coy smile. "But, while you've been gone. I've been practicing."

"That may be so, but so have I." Clint shoots her a grin as they begin walking toward the large main tent in the middle of the carnival. Henrietta grabs his hand to guide him like a child, even though he doesn't need her to do so, the feeling is familiar and nice so he doesn't protest. As they walk, a small entourage behind them, all the performers itching to watch the amazing Hawkeye once more, Clint sees Tony, Natasha and Bruce at the Farris Wheel. He particularly feels Tony's eyes bore into his back once the other man has spotted Henrietta, Clint purposefully ignores him and continues walking to their destination.

In the tent, Henrietta chastises him once more.

"You sure you remember how to climb up there, little Barton." She calls as he ascends the right poll to the trapeze.

"Like it was yesterday." Clint calls back quickly scaling the large poll. When he gets to the top platform, he quickly unhooks the trapeze bar. He takes a deep breath, watching Henrietta on her own platform, he jumps off, dangling by his arms, he flips himself around the bar twice, then twists so he's hanging by his knees.

"Is that all you've got left in you?" Henrietta calls, she'd effortlessly copied his moves. It was as if they were once again practicing a routine.

"I'm just getting warmed up." Clint calls back, starting the swing again. He gains momentum then flips himself into the air, after all these years, he still trusts Henrietta to follow his lead. She does. Four flips later, he feels her grab him by his wrists. He smiles, feeling exhilarated.

"Still just getting warmed up?" Henrietta cocks and eyebrow at him and he smiles.

"Yup." He starts swinging his body once more, as he flips his legs up into the air, Henrietta let's go of his writs and once again he's flying through the air. He grabs a hold, once more, of his own swing with his legs. With little effort he returns to the platform where James is present to assist him. "Have three people below with apples on their heads." Clint instructs. James calls down below, this had always been Clint's specialty. It was what drew crowds, so no one was particularly worried as they set up. Clint unstrapped his bow from his back and had it expand. He puts three arrows into his quiver, then has James tie on the blindfold. "Have them move around." Clint tells James.

"Are you sure." James sounds hesitant, before when Clint had preformed this act, he'd had the hearing of a Hawk. To James' knowledge, Clint hadn't performed the trick afterwards.

"Positive." Clint says, turning up his hearing aids. James barks the order as Clint take off into the air. One flip, one arrow shot. It hits it's target, people cheer. A jump to a unoccupied moving swing, the second arrow shot mid flight. More cheers erupt as Clint lands safely onto the swing, the arrow having found it's target. Another jump, straight into a free fall. The third arrow is dislodged, it too finds it's target, at the last minute, Clint grabs the large ribbons that are located in the middle of the ring to stop his decent. The room erupts in cheers louder then Clint has ever heard before, his carnival family amazed that even after fifteen years, Clint can still preform the most deadly act any of them ever attempted. He pulls the blindfold off and climbs down as the performers descend upon him, still hooting and hollering.

"I can't believe you just did that." Henrietta says shaking her head giving him a hug.

"Looks like you'll have to practice harder to beat me." Clint grins.

"Looks like it. Fifteen years gone and you're still showing me up Barton." She shakes her head disapprovingly. Then suddenly her face lights up. "You've got to be in the show tonight."

"I don't think…" Clint starts to say only to be cut off by James.

"That's a great idea, one last night." James adds.

"I'm not really ready to put on a show." Clint says running a hand awkwardly through his hair.

"Nonsense, you're as ready as any of us." James says shaking off all of Clint's concerns. "Dad would be thrilled." He adds.

"Alright." Clint caves under all the hopeful looks he receives. "I'll do it, but it's one night."

"One night." James echoes, already running off to find his father to tell him the good news. "Henrietta, George, Haley, start working on the routine with Clint." He adds. And Clint can't help but smile, despite everything in his life, he can't help but admit, being the Amazing Hawkeye did make him happy.

Five minutes into their rehearsal, the announcements started screaming across the PA system. James promoting Hawkeye's return to the big tent, urging everyone to buy their tickets before they sold out. Someone posted the news to the carnival's Facebook page, and before long the three shows for the night were sold out. And that made Clint ecstatic.

"We haven't been sold out for over ten years." Carson came yelling into the tent, he'd pulled Clint into a large hug, despite him currently shooting. Not that his interruption affected Clint's aim. Clint's grin had grown even bigger.

It was a half hour before the show when Clint first spotted Barney, he'd come into the tent and had watched them practice for about ten minutes before leaving. He'd been too caught up his act to care.

"Didn't Clint say he'd meet us here?" Natasha looks around concerned when she can't find Clint.

"Didn't you hear the announcements?" Steve asked looking slightly amused. "The Amazing Hawkeye, is returning to the stage for one last night of performances. He's probably getting ready with the other performers."

"This tent is really packed." Tony comments looking around, several people have come up to them asking for autographs.

"It's sold out." Bruce says reading a sign advertising tickets.

"Clint." Clint's heart clenched painfully at the sound of the person's voice. He reflexively flinches when he feels a hand land on his shoulder.

"Barney." He says slowly turning to face his brother.

"You're looking well." Barney says appraising his brother's appearance.

"As are you." Clint counters, and he does, sort of.

"I was surprised to hear you were preforming tonight." Barney says standing beside his brother casually as James entered the main ring of the tent to start the night off.

"As was I." Clint says referring to himself. "It was Henrietta's idea."

"I heard. You know Clint, the nice thing to do when you don't want to meet someone is to send a note. I waited for you all day at I-HOP."

"That's funny seems as I was here all day." Clint has a slight tone of snark in his voice.

"Seems like you never grew out of being a little shit." Barney says swatting Clint's shoulder.

"I guess I didn't." Clint snarls. Noticing the growing tension between the two siblings, Henrietta intercepts Clint and engulfs him in a conversation, leaving Barney to half glare at, half call back his brother.

"Now put you're hands together for our lovely trapeze mistress, Henrietta." James yells into his microphone. Clint winks at her from his platform across the tent. She grins back, she takes off first shortly followed by Clint, who swings by his knees. He swings upside down a few times while Henrietta preforms some intermediate trapeze tricks, he's actually bored when she finally launches herself toward him. He catches her effortlessly and allows her to preform some more tricks upside down while he holds onto only one of her ankles. When she's done, George swings her own swing back out which she catches and swings back in. She bows from up on her platform while James calls for applause. He then instructs the audience to address their attention to Clint.

"Watch as he dangles by only the tips of his fingers." James narrates while Clint preforms. Next he hangs by only his ankle while the swing moves from one platform to another. After that he has George swing out a second swing. He flips himself up onto the bar and stands up, he holds onto nothing as he continues swinging. As George's empty swing approaches, Clint steps out into mid air. The audience below gasps, only relieved when Clint's second foot lands on the second swing. They break out into cheers while Clint climbs back onto his platform. "The Amazing Hawkeye." James roars as the audience gives him a standing ovation. Clint turns down his hearing aids. "You'll see more of him later tonight." James assures the audience when over half boo when James tries to shift the attention to other acts.

"Good job." Henrietta tells Clint pulling him into a hug after they've both climbed down.

"When do I go on again."

"After this, James will have a ribbon dancer come out so the men can set up the high wire, then you're on." Clint nods. He goes over to the corner where he's stashed his quiver, arrows and bow and begins preparing them for the next act.

Tony and Thor went wild at Clint's mild (for Clint) trapeze act. Natasha and Bruce laughed at the two but were equally excited by Clint's performance. Steve catcalled his name.

Clint barely even took a breath as he stepped out onto the tightrope. Haley remains on the platform, for the finale of the act. Around the main ring, would be various stage hands all holding targets for Clint to hit. Below James narrated.

"The Amazing Hawkeye will now preform one of his more dangerous acts, for both himself and all bystanders. For that reason, we at Carson's Traveling Carnival, would like to make it very clear that during this entire performance, all spectators must remain seated. You may cheer, clap, yell as much as you'd like but no one should leave their seats at any time." James paused a moment to allow his message to sink in. "As you can see, Hawkeye, is currently 95 feet in the air, suspended only by a 1/2 inch thick rope. Around the ring, you may see various stage hands. In each stage hand's hand, they have a ring 1/2 inch in diameter. Please show your rings to the audience." The stage hands do as instructed. "Now, we gave Hawkeye his name for his vision and skill with a bow." Clint extends his bow arm, showing off the weapon. "Now watch in amazement, as from 95 ft in the air, Hawkeye both maintains his balance and shoots an arrow through each of these rings." James steps out of the ring. Clint takes a deep breath, nocks an arrow, sets his sight and releases. The arrow flies down, a ribbon attached for easier viewing, and through the ring, only stopping when a small knot in the end of the ribbon stops it. The frightened stage hand, shows the ring to the audience and they erupt into cheers. Clint quickly knocks another arrow, at the last second, he leans forward, to begin hanging by his feet. He repeats the process now upside down with the same result. This time some of the audience begins chanting. James reenters the ring, he motions for the audience to calm down, pretending himself not to be impressed. "Too easy." James calls, to which some of the audience boos. "He's not even challenged." James walks over to one of the stage hands and instructs them to begin running around. James once again steps out. Clint fires the bow from behind his back, once again, the arrow finds it's target. The crowd screams louder then before, the sheer amount of noise almost knocks Clint over sideways. But he focuses and keeps his balance. Again, James sends a stage hand running this time while waving the ring. This time Clint does a flip and fires the bow at the same time. It shouldn't be possible for it to find it's mark, but it does. Once again James comes out motioning for the crowd to calm down. "Too easy." He yells, to which all of the crowd disagrees and makes that disagreement known. "Haley." James somehow manages to shout over the crowd. "Will now join Clint out on the tightrope." Clint smiles as Haley comes toward him. She'd joined the group near the time Clint left, they hadn't preformed much together, but Clint remembered she was a damn good tightrope walker. Clint nods when Haley gets close enough asking her silently if she's ready, she nods back. Very carefully he lays down on the rope. "Remember folks, there are not nets to catch them if Hawkeye fails." James reminds the crowd. Clint takes a deep breath then carefully he lifts his legs up into the air so only his neck and shoulders are on the wire. The balance it takes to preform this alone is amazing, people cheer, Clint ignores them. He takes another deep breath as very cautiously, Haley climbs up onto his feet. She stands up on one foot in a cheer leading liberty position. Focused on keeping Haley balanced, Clint slowly brings his bow into a firing position. People gasp as he knocks the bow, Haley teetering a hundred feet int the air. He pulls the arrow back and fires aiming for the metal pole in the center of the tent, the arrow bounces off and soars toward it's target, once again hitting dead center. The crowd is on it's feet once more, screaming louder then ever before. Clint sighs a sigh of relief, it worked. Cautiously, Haley climbs down and back onto the rope. He can see her legs shaking as she quickly walks back to the platform where she collapses out of the light clinging to the pole. She'd put a lot of trust into him, not many performers would have been able to walk on the tightrope after being away so long, let alone what Clint had just done. As James attempts to regain control of the crowd, Clint picks himself carefully up off the line and joins Haley on the platform.

"That was terrifying." Haley laughs when Clint joins her. "Terrifying yet amazing." Clint adds, a grin so wide it fills his whole face. "What's next?" Clint asks.

"Barton is going to swallow some swords, then I think you're fire breathing while we set up your special trapeze. I heard Henrietta say that they dug it out and fixed it to day."

"Good." Clint flashes her one more grin then quickly, half falls, half climbs down the tall pole. He quietly watches from the sidelines as Barney preforms, the act is much longer then Clint thought it would be, but Barney doesn't look happy while doing it. When he's done the audience politely applauds, they however go wild when James announces the return of Clint. As Clint runs into the middle of the ring, a stage hand brings out the flame sticks. Clint's nervous for this act, unlike the others he hasn't done anything similar to it it fifteen years, and it had been even longer before that when Clint had stopped breathing fire, but as this was his last hurrah, he figured he'd give it his all.

As Clint light's the first torch, music plays and James narrates.

"Now, ladies and gentleman, watch as Hawkeye breaths fire. It's been seventeen years since he's preformed this trick, he didn't even get to practice before the show tonight, so hopefully all will go well." Clint lights the first torch and lets the fire roll across his skin. He then puts the flame on the torch into is mouth. He let's the flames roll inside for a few seconds before he extracts the torch and blows out, a large flame escaping his mouth. The crowd cheers once more and Clint grins. He lights all three torches and juggles them, catching the flame ends in his hands. Then comes more fire breathing. The act isn't long, but it still ends in a large roar. Clint bows then walks toward the trapeze poles once more. While he climbs, another performer comes out to occupy the audience. The moment he reaches his personal platforms, one hundred and twenty five feet in the air, James calls the crowd to his attention once more.

"Now watch as Hawkeye preforms his last trick of the night. Many of you may have heard of William Tell, he shot an apple off of a man's head. Hawkeye is about to attempt a trick that will blow that one out of the water. From one hundred and twenty five feet in the air Clint will shoot three arrows, his target will be three apples, placed in the mouths of three different men. But there's more, he'll do this all while preforming on the trapeze." The crowd roars their approval. When they've quieted down, James speaks once more. "But due to the his exceptional performance tonight, that would be too easy. So he'll also be blindfolded. Without sight or the ability to hear, he will do all of what I promised." The crowd roars once more. Clint took a deep breath, made sure his bow and trapeze were in hand, then tied his own blindfold on. With a jump he flung himself into the air holding on with one hand. He quickly flips himself up so he is hanging by his knees. Another deep breath, he pulls back the string of the bow, then releases. He hopes the arrow found it's target. He hopes Henrietta has flung the other trapeze, as he launches himself into the air once more. He fells the room collectively gasp as he flips, firing another arrow. He sighs in relief when his hand finds the other swing. He fells as the crowd erupted into cheers. He begins flipping around and around on the swing, the third time around, he let's go and falls into a free fall. He feels as people scream in horror. He fires the final arrow. Once he's released the arrow, he reaches out for the silk ribbons. His hands finds them. He grabs and throws all his momentum into them, using them to slow his fall to the ground, he lands on his feet unharmed. James comes over and pulls off his blindfold.

"The Amazing Hawkeye." Clint doesn't have to have his hearing aids to hear the applause and cheers his performance receives. He waves and bows then walks off the stage into the back area where the other performers are. They all congratulate him, which he takes graciously.

"What are you doing until the next show?" Clint never put his hearing aids back in so he's shocked when a hand lands on his shoulder. "What are you doing until the next show?" Barney asks again, this time slow enough so Clint can read his lips.

"Get something to eat." Clint grunts, digging in his pocket for his hearing aids. He places them in his ears and puts them on.

"You know, I'm sorry he did that to you." Barney says motioning to hearing aids.

Clint shrugs. "Theres no way to fix it, the organization I work for has tried everything, so don't worry about it."

"You want to go find something to eat with me?"

"Aren't you going to wait to eat with everyone else at some crummy dinner?"

"Normally." Barney says slightly surprised that Clint remembers so much from his time with the carnival. "But today I'm going to eat with my brother." Barney throws his arm around Clint's shoulders.

"I'm getting a corn dog." Clint says leading the way toward the food section of the carnival.

"That your boyfriend Barton?" Stark asks coming up beside Clint, Clint's other friends not far behind. "Because if he is, I'd get rid of him before your wife shows up."

"What are you talking about Stark, Laura's at home with the kids."

"She was until I sent my private plane to pick her and the kids up to bring them here to see the Amazing Hawkeye." Tony winks and backs away before Clint can hit him in the gut.

"That really was a terrific show." Bruce adds from behind. Clint only grunts.

"So who's the arm candy?" Stark asks stepping back up to Clint this time eating cotton candy.

"This is Barney." Clint says through clenched teeth. Barney sticks his hand out for a shake. "He's my brother."

"Pleasure to meet you." Barney says.

"You were the sword swallower, right?" Tony asks digging through his brain.

"Yeah, I'm usually a feature act these days, but with Clint around tonight they cut my act in half."

"Well, Clint was amazing." Thor says clapping Clint on the shoulder from behind. "Had I known he was a fire breather as well, we would have had much fun."

"That's not really my thing…" Clint says eying Thor. "Never was."

"Well you're very good at it."

"Clint's good at a lot of things." Barney says slightly darkly. "Carson asks him to do it, he does it. Archery, Trapeze, Tightrope, Lion Taming, Fire Breathing, Acrobatics, Horse Back Acrobatics, Sword Swallowing, Knife Throwing, Contortion, Elephant Riding, basically any act in the circus, Clint can perform."

"Could perform." Clint corrects. "I'm not going back full time." He assures Barney. "Wait, Stark, did you say my family is coming?"

"Yeah, I thought your kids might want to see your amazingness."

"You have a family?" Barney asks surprised.

"Yeah, three kids and a wife." Stark says.

"You're twenty five and you have three kids?" "You're only twenty five?" Tony asks in disbelief, his jaw dropping.

"Your friends don't know how old you are?" Barney asks confused.

"It was classified information." Clint says.

"What kind of shit are you into nowadays?" Barney asks shooting Clint an odd look.

"It's not what I'm into now, it's what I was into." Clint says blowing off his brother's question.

"Can we get back to what's important." Tony interrupts the two brothers. "Clint is only twenty five."

"Shut up Stark." Natasha threatens.

"Can you guys leave us alone for awhile?" Clint asks looking at Barney.

"Holler if you need us." Steve says as he herds the Avengers away.

"Nice friends you've got there." Barney says slightly sarcastically.

"They're nicer then yours." Clint says reflexively touching the back of his head.

"So you've got kids?" Barney asks again slightly jealous.

"Yeah, two sons and a daughter." He says running his hand through his hair uncomfortably. "The youngest is only nine months old."

"Got a nice place?"

"Yeah, nice enough. It's a farm, so theres always something to do. I'm thinking about installing a zip-line. How's your life been?"

"You've seen it, I never left here."

"Girlfriend?"

"Henrietta."

"Nice. I remember you always used to flirt with her."

"Yeah, she finally gave in a few years back."

"Still robbing people blind?" Clint asks, he sees Barney's knuckles go white.

"Nah, I got out of that around the time Jacques was arrested."

"Good."

"Clint you know what I've been doing, the same exact things that I was doing when you left here, minus all the stealing. What I want to know is how you've been. About a year after you left, I 'woke up'. Carson had been pretty harsh on me, he found out some of the substances I was into and made me dry out. My brain healed and I realized I'd been really shitty towards you. I'd thought it was your fault I was in such a shitty place but it was really my own. It took me a little longer to realize what a crappy role model I'd been. And I felt horrible about all the shit I did to you. I mean I made you run away. I tried to find you, but you were long gone. I've been keeping an ear out, hoping you'd pop up somewhere for years. I wanted to see you to make it all up to you but even if I couldn't do that I wanted to make sure you were at least alive. What happened to you once you left here?"

"If you're looking to put your conscious to rest knowing that won't help very much."

"I don't care."

"Well, after you ordered that hit on my back, I moved around a lot. Eventually I ran out of money and couldn't keep running, so I waited. A man came for me, I disarmed him then forced him to tell me who he worked for. I asked for a job. Days later I was working as a freelance assassin for a Russian mob boss. I traveled all over the world, killed more then two hundred different targets. Then one day I was ordered to kill a child. I wouldn't do it. I was taken into custody by my boss, he tortured me a bit. Tried to force my hand but I still refused. He was going to kill me, but I escaped. I became a true freelance in the same line of work, I answered to no one, but I'd gained a reputation, so I didn't need an agency. On my thirteenth birthday, a man by the name of Phil Coulson hired me. Turns out he worked for a top secret government organization, I was given too choices, work for the organization or rot in jail. I added a third option of killing Phil Coulson but he assured me he had back up and wasn't afraid to die. I decided to work for the organization. Not that it was much of a lifestyle change, I still worked by myself as an assassin. Only now it was supposedly for the good guys."

"So that takes us until thirteen. What did you do after that."

"Worked for the organization, at fifteen I met Natasha when I was sent to kill her but instead decided to bring her back with me. She was only fourteen at the time, and like I said I didn't kill children, even if she was an assassin like me. Natasha and I became partners and have worked together and apart since then."

"What about the wife and kids?"

"I met Laura when I was eighteen, a drunken night and four months later I found out she was pregnant. I married her about a month later, we moved to a remote location and my organization set up a safe house. I go back there in between my assignments to see my her and our kids."

"Ever thought of getting out."

"My line of work is like the circus, you're not getting out unless you're dead."

"You got out of the circus."

"Only because I hid where I couldn't be found, don't even try to tell me Carson isn't going to try to get me to stay after tonight."

"Yeah, he is."

"That's why we're talking isn't it."

"Only a little, I did want to know how your life has been."

"Yeah right, tell Carson I'm going home to my kids after tonight. I promised him one more night, and he's not getting anymore."

"Clint…" Barney says but Clint's already gone.

"That was amazing daddy." Lila says jumping into Clint's arms after the show.

"Not as amazing as it was knowing that you guys were out here watching." He pulls Laura into a hug as well. "I'm glad Stark flew you guys out here to see."

"You could have given us some head up." Laura chassis him.

"I didn't know until we got here this morning." Clint kisses her on the forehead. "One things for sure. I'm tired. Let's go home."

"But we just got to New York." Laura complains. It's been awhile since she's left Iowa so Clint concedes.

"Fine then let's get back to Stark's tower. Then tomorrow I'll take the kids and you can go shopping all day long."

"Thank you." Laura says kissing him tenderly.

"Now let's go before any of the fools around here try to force us to stay."

Clint gathers his family and walks them to their car, unfortunately someone is waiting for them there.

 _"Have you seen Clint?" Carson asks Barney. It's early in the morning so the older man had assumed that Clint would be still in bed but when he went to wake him up he'd found this to be untrue._

 _"No, he was gone when I woke up this morning." Barney says barely looking up from his conversation with Jacques "He's probably practicing somewhere."_

 ** _a/N_**

 ** _Hey just an FYI, I'm looking for a beta reader for this story._**


	2. Chapter 2

_"Have you seen Clint?" Carson asks Barney. It's early in the morning so the older man had assumed that Clint would be still in bed but when he went to wake him up he'd found this to be untrue._

 _"No, he was gone when I woke up this morning." Barney says barely looking up from his conversation with Jacques "He's probably practicing somewhere."_

 _"I've already looked everywhere, I thought he might have told you where he went. He's not here."_

 _"Why would he tell me where he went?"_

 _"You used to care." James points out coming up behind his father, his eyes narrow on the can of beer in Barney's hand._

 _"I still do." Barney says defensively, he stands up and digs around in his pockets. Sure enough he has a voicemail and missed call from an unknown number. Clint probably got lost when he went for a walk and wondered too far. Barney clumsily puts his voicemail password into his phone, the device on speaker phone so the others can hear._

 _"Barney, not that I think you'd care anymore... anyway it's Clint. I'm not putting up with the shit that hangs around the carnival anymore. You told me a few days back to start taking care of my self, so I guess this is my effort to do that. Anyway, I got some money and decided it was time I left, so I bought a train ticket. Things aren't going all that good for me anymore. I know you don't care that I'm gone but I needed to stay goodbye. And thanks again for all the stuff you used to do for me. Anyway goodbye Barney."_

 _"You son of a..." James jumped forward and punched Barney right in the jaw. Barney hit him back in the gut cutting off the rest of his sentence. The two boys end up brawling in the mud. After about five minutes Carson orders Jaques and other bystanders that the fight has attracted to beat them up. Both boys come away bloodied. "You're a son of a whore, you know that." James yells in Barney's face as he spits out the blood that pools in his mouth. "Clint is just a little fucking kid, and you treat him like a pile of shit. He's barely even ten. And you've made him go and run off." James spits again, splattering blood across Barney's face._

 _Barney jumps toward James again, but Carson steps between the two boys and knocks Barney to the ground, well aware that a crowd made of patrons is forming off at the rope barrier. "That is enough." The much older man growls. Most had never seen him angry before so all stop in their tracks. "Barney you'll go to the train station and see if they can tell you where Clint bought a ticket too. He's too young and fragile to be on the streets by himself. James get to work." Both boys nod not daring to cross the older man. It's only when Barney has started on his way with Jaques at his side that Carson speaks again, adding an additional threat. "And Barney, if you can't bring my star back I'll be damnd sure to make your life a living hell."_

"Beautiful car you've got here." Barney strokes the paint of Stark's vintage G6, a baseball bat hanging casually but threateningly at his side.

"I like to think so." Clint says glancing over his shoulder at Stark who has stopped in his tracks near his SUV to stare in horror. Clint and he exchange a glance, Clint has an ugly feeling that by the end of this he'll owe Stark a new car. But for now the other man will play along.

"It would be a shame if anything happened to it." Barney says slowly raising the baseball bat, expecting Clint to react. Clint plays along.

"Yeah, it sure would." He says slowly guiding Cooper and Lila behind him, and closer to their mother and the Avengers who have slowly gravitated toward the impending fight.

"This your family?" Barney asks, peering around Clint.

"Something like that." Clint says tensing as other Carnies come out of the shadows.

"Remember when we were kids and you said that you never wanted kids."

Clint did remember that day.

 _"What part of hide did you not understand?" Barney hisses at Clint when he runs into him on the streets while fleeing from the building he just helped rob._

 _"There were people there."_

 _"What kind of people?"_

 _"Social Service type people." Clint says shuffling on his feet back and forth, Barney hears sirens in the distance._

 _"Clint we've got to move." Without further notice Barney throws Clint onto his shoulders and begins running into a nearby alley. He tucks first Clint then himself in behind a dumpster. Once the sirens have passed, Barney turns back to Clint. "How'd you know they were apart of social services?" Barney had left Clint in the back of a diner in a booth by himself with some money and a coloring book to keep him occupied until he could come back and get the younger boy. Clint was hiding, just in plain view._

 _"You left me at the diner too long, the owner noticed and called them. A lady introduced herself to me. I didn't tell her my name, I didn't want to talk to her but she was insistant. Eventually I pretended to have to go to the bathroom, then climbed out the window and ran. I kept running until I ran into you."_

 _"This is too fucking much." Barney mumbles under his breath to himself. Barely fourteen himself, he's not really qualified to take care of Clint, not that he has much choice. He's all Clint has left. And while Clint knows that Barney tries, the life they live really isn't good for a six year old. "Damn our fucked up parents." Barney seems to forget that Clint is beside him as he punches the dumpster. "Damn them for getting themselves fucking killed. Damn them for not being here for us. If you have kids you should fucking be there for them." The dumpster receives a beating as Barney begins alternating between punching and kicking it. As Clint watches his brother, fear takes over him. Barney looks almost like an animal the way he releases his pent up anger. Slowly Barney calms himself down. Once he's stopped, Clint looks Barney dead in the eyes and says. "I am never having kids."_

 _Barney meerly sneered a Clint. "Yeah, well I never intended on having them either, but I'm stuck with you. So you might as well be mine. You don't always have a choice, Clint." After the words left his mouth, Barney seemed to realize he was a little harsh. He took a deep breath then looked a Clint cowering away from him in the back corner of their hiding space. "Come on Clint, let's go home. The cops will have cleared out by now." He'd offered Clint his hand, Clint had taken it still shaking._

"Yeah, I remember Barney. But I'm not the same person I was when I was six."

"No, you're not." Barney agrees.

"But I see you're the same person you were at fourteen." Clint says the words to distract Barney, he knows they'll make him mad, but he hopes it'll buy him time to get Laura and the kids away from the carnival.

"You son of a..." As he speaks, Barney raises the bat, he swings it down hard shattering t vehicles windshield. Clint takes the moment to yell at Laura to run. His weapons already drawn, he keeps the carnies at bay while Steve helps Lila get to the other car, he tried to grab Cooper as well but he insisted on running. Meanwhile Natasha has joined Clint, weapons drawn covering Steve's rescue. Unfortunately, before he can reach the car Cooper trips, before he can get back up, Carson steps out of the shadows and grabs him. Natasha had already turned to prevent the carnies from advancing when Cooper had tripped confident he'd make it to the car. So it's only when the boy cries out for his dad from the large mans arms that anyone realizes he's in trouble.

"That's not even your car, is it?" Carson asks, effortlessly carrying the struggling child toward the carnies.

"It's not." Clint admits while gesturing to Tony, who is now in his full Iron Man suit. "It's his, and I don't think he's very happy you're letting Barney beat on it."

"Barney has anger issues he needs to work out, but I'm sure you know that." Carson says as if they're talking about the weather. "Nice plan, wasn't it. I knew you wouldn't care about the car, but that you'd pretend to get your family out. All I had to do was wait, then trip your son here. Now we can both have what we want."

"I don't appreciate you using my child as leverage." Clint says, his bow string drawn tight as he speaks.

"I don't appreciate that you ran away from my carnival when you were a child. You were what allowed us to stay alive, well that and Barney's own particular set of skills. But you were the reason we were legally finacially stable. Tonight only proves that. So I have a simple proposition for you, rejoin the carnival. If you do, your family will walk away unharmed, if you don't... well we'll see if this little guy is as good at fire swallowing as his father."

"What about the third option, where I put an arrow through your fat gut, then do the same to anyone of your friends that try to grab my family." Clint says the threat with no emotion in his voice. He will do it.

"Henrietta." Carson calls for his daughter who splits through the crowd to show Clint a small device. A device Nat and himself are very familiar with.

"You shoot me, Henrietta blows up the car the rest of your family are in." Clint slowly lowers his bow, pretending to admit defeat. His team, however know him well enough to jump into motion. Natasha shoots Henrietta's hand forcing her to drop the device, she then shoots Carson in the gut. Cooper is released, he quickly scurries away to hide behind Clint. Before one of the other Carnies can grab the detanator, Steve runs in and snatches it up. Tony meanwhile has managed to release Laura, Lila and Nathaniel from the car. Bruce works on deactivating the bomb. Steve then scoops up Cooper and guards him along with the others off to the side, while Tony grabs a hold of Barney. As they walk to the car Steve had called while Barton had everyone else distracted, Clint covers them all. Then before leaving he calls over his shoulder. "Next time you threaten my family, I won't be so nice." Then with a nod to Tony who takes off with Barney in his posession, Clint climbs into the car. The driver immediately driving off.


	3. Note

If you would like faster story updates share with me a google drive email and I will share the stories on drive with you. I have limited access to this site with my laptop yet I write tons and always have a lot I want to publish. So anyways, my email is philbrickma17 . If you're interested in this offer you can email me so I can then add you to the list of permitted viewers of my drive. Don't worry, this doesn't mean I'm no longer updating on this site, it just means that if you want fast updates as I write the pieces there is a way for you to do so.


End file.
